Amazon is raising its hiring bar for some tech jobs

Amazon's office in downtown Seattle.

Elaine Thompson/AP

• Amazon is reinstating "bar raisers" for entry-level software engineer interviews.
• The move is aimed at increasing the quality of employees that Amazon hires.
• It's also part of a broader change in the company's strategy, to be more cautious and cost-conscious.

Amazon is raising its hiring bar.

The company is bringing back "bar raisers" to the interview process for entry-level software engineer jobs, internally dubbed "SDE-1 (L4)" positions, according to an internal memo obtained by Business Insider.

Bar raisers have long been a peculiar part of Amazon's hiring process. These people, typically from another team, serve as "objective third-party advisers" during job interviews and ask more holistic questions related to Amazon's famed leadership principles to evaluate candidates.

But Amazon removed bar raiser interviews for entry-level engineering jobs and some non-engineering roles in recent years, in part due to the pandemic-fueled hiring boom, BI previously reported. That enabled Amazon to hire more aggressively, but also led to a drop in the quality of talent in some parts of the company.

"By reintroducing Bar Raisers into the AUTA interview process, the assessment of the Dive Deep and Earns Trust Leadership Principles (LPs) can be better incorporated," the memo, from July, explained. "With this change, AUTA is addressing a direct business need and aims to enhance the quality of SDE-1 candidates hired."

AUTA is short for Amazon University Talent Acquisition, the team in charge of hiring early career employees, mostly just out of school, according to the memo. "Dive Deep" and "Earns Trust" are part of Amazon's 16 leadership principles.

The reversal reflects Amazon's increased restraint following the swift end of its pandemic mega-growth period. Amazon's belt-tightening tactics have included record layoffs, ruthless cost cuts, and hiring freezes.

The move also suggests that Amazon will continue to take a more measured approach to hiring, after growing at a dizzying pace since 2019 to nearly double its headcount to more than 1.5 million total employees. Last week, Amazon reported earnings that largely fell below expectations and warned consumer spending could worsen. This week, fears of a slowing US economy are rattling investors.

"We're constantly reviewing and improving our hiring practices to ensure we're hiring the best talent to innovate for our customers," Amazon spokesperson Margaret Callahan wrote in an email to BI.

'Learn & Be Curious'

The internal Amazon memo said the revised interview approach has been fully rolled out in the Americas region. Other markets, like Asia and Europe, are expected to have the new model in place by mid-August.

By resuming the bar raiser program, Amazon is adding an additional 60-minute step to the interview process for these jobs, the memo said.

Under a step called "Learn & Be Curious," the memo instructs bar raisers to focus their questions on the "Dive Deep" and "Earns Trust" leadership principles during these interviews because Amazon's internal research found that they correlate with job performance for SDE-1 roles.

Amazon has struggled to keep bar raisers engaged in recent years. Although the job is considered a badge of honor internally, it's a non-paying role that adds more responsibility to existing jobs. There have been complaints of some bar raisers being overworked and disengaged, BI previously reported.

To ensure bar raisers' level of engagement, Amazon will be closely monitoring and identifying potential capacity bottlenecks, the internal memo said. Amazon will also share any interview process changes with the Bar Raiser Core Community and request their opinions on those changes.

By the end of the third quarter, Amazon plans to provide regular reporting on bar raiser engagements, the memo added.

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